Writing Contests
Past Writing Contests have included Flash-Fiction pieces, position papers, and persuasive letters. Winners received prizes, were recognized as part of an evening reception, and represented in the Coastlines Literary Magazine. See examples of past contests and winners below, and check back soon for information on the 2012 Writing Contests.
FLASH FICTION CONTEST:
Compose an original story of 250-750 words. Stories will be evaluated on subject, content, and technical aspects. The top three participants for graduates and undergraduates will be invited to read their stories at the National Day on Writing evening ceremony. The first-place winners in each category will be published in the FAU literary magazine, Coastlines, and receive a $50 cash prize. Entries should be submitted by midnight October 14, 2011 to NDOWFlashFiction@gmail.com. Stories can not have been previously published.
ESSAY CONTEST:
According to Rebekah Nathan, universities are not lacking in community; however, the communities that are formed are individualized, self-selected, and ego-centered rather than directed around the larger institution. These informal community networks work against not only the stated goals of many universities when it comes to community but their stated goals concerning diversity as well. One underlying assumption of her essay thus seems to be that both community and diversity are important goals for institutions of higher learning. But is that their purpose? Should universities teach students not only knowledge of subjects, but knowledge of community-building, global awareness, and human ethics?
Write a paper in which you describe and defend your vision of the purpose of institutions of higher learning.
Questions you may consider in your essay:
· What do you want from FAU?
· Are universities training grounds for your career? Should they provide only career training. . . or should they provide something more?
· What kinds of community experience in college would be most useful to you as a future professional? Why? What communities have you formed here or hope to form here?
· Why are communities important? What does a community provide for people professionally, emotionally, and globally?
· You may wish to research FAU’s website. What are FAU’s stated goals? How do these goals compare/contrast with your own experience and vision of the purpose of a university?
· What kind of education should a university offer?
· Are there goals beyond formal education that universities should strive towards? Why are these important?
· In writing your paper, you may wish to incorporate outside research from sources like Rebekah Nathan’s essay, “Community and Diversity.” How does her experience compare/contrast with your experience here at FAU? What role do community and diversity play? What role should they play? FAU claims to be the most diverse school in the Florida State University System. Does your experience confirm that? Does it matter?
Requirements:
Essays should not exceed 1000 words and should be original, unpublished work that demonstrates fresh, clear thinking and superior quality of expression and craftsmanship. A response to this prompt could be in the form of a well-formatted letter addressed to the FAU President or an essay that is consistent with the style guide of choice (MLA, APA, etc.).
Three graduate finalists and three undergraduate finalists will be selected. The top winner from each category will receive a $50.00 cash prize. All finalists will be invited to read excerpts from their writing at the National Day on Writing evening ceremony on October 20, 2011. Entries should be submitted by midnight October 14, 2011 to NDOWPositionPaper@gmail.com.
2011 Winners
Thank you to all who participated in the National Day on Writing 2011 Writing Contests. It was difficult, but the judges have determined the top three winners in each category. Winners are listed below along with excerpts from their pieces.
Flash Fiction Contest Winners
1. "Where You Have Yet to Go" by Amanda Schoen
Milo's shadow spilled across the threshold where his feet refused to tread. He hovered at the border between the bedroom and the hall, arms folded like a shield while he watched me empty the contents of the second drawer into my duffel. Why he felt compelled to stand vigil, I couldn't say. In case you get any wild ideas about packing up his things, too. But what would I steal? The busted lava lamp on the nightstand? It wouldn't glow anymore. The globs just drifted listlessly through dark waters, sometimes merging together, more often breaking apart.
2. "H" by Amanda Brahlek
It was rush-hour – prime-time on the median. Rush-hour meant people with jobs. People with jobs meant money, and that is exactly what he needed. He was young, maybe twenty-five, but his reflection in car windows appeared much older; his skin was leather – parched and folded into wrinkles surrounding his clouded blue eyes. The weather was humid and the air hung heavy, but his rigid body shivered, making his skin itch. All around him the street lights changed: green, yellow, red. The sky slowly changed; orange, red, violet.
3. "As of Yet, Untitled" by Richard Zullo
My father would want me to be an attorney like him. He'd want me to read detective fiction and play on the baseball team. He'd suggest clothes and hairstyles so that I can impress the pretty cheerleader from the "right type of family" who, like my own mother in her day, is the desire of every young man on the college campus. He'd encourage me to take the lucrative job offer from the big, national law firm so I can afford the garish McMansion in the private golf community. He'd praise my long hours and would wink and look away when he suspects I'm padding the invoices to inflate the bottom line. Finally, he'd offer his sympathy when he learns of my impending divorce and dismissal from the firm due to an unhealthy affinity for expensive scotch and young paralegals.
Position Paper Contest Winners
1st: Tabitha Lynn Zangre
A sense of community on any college campus is largely aided by a sense of shared pride amongst students. Ages, majors, ethnicities and interests may vary greatly but the one thing everyone on campus has in common is the university they attend. A feeling of pride about the university acts as a connective tissue, creating a sense of community. Pride stems from tradition, and that is something FAU has lacked despite its 50 year presence in South Florida. The joke in the past has been that FAU stands for "find another university". This is a stigma that the administration is working hard to overcome.
2nd: Rhona Nain
...Furthermore, with such low number of students present within its organizations and clubs, FAU should implement a program (Student Involvement Program) geared solely toward demonstrating to students the significant benefits that are a direct correlation of student involvement. This program would cover topics ranging from the benefits of understanding diversity and the role it plays in society, the importance of student leadership and the idea that student involvement allows for a overall better college experience.
3rd: Caludia Kisielewicz
...To accommodate the growing student multiplicity, FAU strives to make diversity an initiative. FAU's Office of Multicultural Affairs, through the funding of student government, hosts a human relations and diversity training program once a month from 8:30am-5pm. Successful attendees receive a certificate of completion and earn .6 CEU's from FAU's Office of Professional Development (Office of Multicultural Affairs). This program assists students in exploring their personal and cultural identity, recognizing the language of stereotyping and its impacts, challenging bias, discrimination, and exploring the dynamics of power and privilege related to group identities (Office of Multicultural Affairs). The program celebrates the motto "We're All Together Different", which befittingly indorses a harmonious fusion of unity and individualism that needs to cohabit on all university campuses. As beneficial as it is, diversity training at FAU lacks accessibility and widespread influence because its workshop capacity limits to only 25 students per month and is entirely voluntary.
2010 Winners
Thank you to all who participated in the National Day on Writing 2010 Writing Contests. Winners are listed below along with excerpts from their pieces.
Flash Fiction Contest Winners
1. "And the Record Plays a Song Unending" by Megan Joyce Hesse
“What’s your most favorite song ever?” the boy asks you, disrupting the musical silence to spit the question around the unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. You and the boy lie face up on the old carpet that was once a shade of sea foam blue-green so bright you’d get color spots in your eyes if you looked at it too hard, but now is just the color of a dirty ocean at dusk, patched with stains from parties long past. . . .
2. "Rain Noir" by Laura Gomez Campuzano
. . .The pitter-patter of rain mimics the sounds of an ambulance in the distance. How would Van Gogh feel if he looked through the glass and saw the fluid strokes of rain reveal the essence of the world to him? How would he feel about the blues and shaded hues of flashing lights, and the greens and whites of the ambulance? Would he cut his other ear off or would he pull a brush from his pocket and tap at the glass like needlework to add something of his own? . . . . Perhaps he would add more traffic, or maybe a cypress tree or two somewhere in a backdrop off the road; perhaps he would use a more dramatic palette to dab the wreck into the picture the wipers keep trying to shake off or perhaps not. Perhaps he would dedicate a few brush strokes to a speck of white over the blurry outline of a stretcher; perhaps not. . .
3. "The Fall" by Valerie Mamarill Andrada
You think to yourself, this is something I thought I would never do. But there you are, the toes of your shoes dangling off the edge of the soggy wooden bridge. You feel the cold air go through your lungs. . .. You hear the rush of the water below the bridge. . . . You begin to have a salty taste in your mouth like blood, but it can’t be. It is cold outside you can see it by the snow on the adjacent mountains, but you can’t feel it. You are numb, but not from the cold. . .
Presidential Persuasive Letter Contest Winners
1st: Christopher McClain
In this economy, many veterans who want to use the GI Bill move back in with their parents after being discharged in order to save money while going to school. . . . What I am asking of you, Dr. Saunders, is to consider making the Yellow Ribbon Program available, or implement a residency exception for veterans in this position to help ease the burden of non-resident charges. . . . It would be an extraordinary goodwill gesture toward former service members attending FAU.
2nd: Dr. Joyce Salomon
I am concerned about students who want to, or have returned to college after a long absence. . . . How many of them have been too intimated by the technology or the isolating age difference to actually pursue their needs? Dr. Saunders, I propose that the university supply names of volunteer mentors for students who are returning to academia after a long absence. . . . New, mature students would be able to reach out to them as a source of information as well as a familiar face in a sea of strangers. . . . Also, it would be gratifying to be a mentor and share my experience and knowledge that I have gained with other students.
3rd: Professor Tsung-Chow Su
Our educational needs are greater than ever, but funding for education has diminished. We need to do more with less. One potential solution is to use technology in the form of e-learning. E-learning is critical to the future of our university, yet prior to your arrival has not received the attention it deserves. I hope to spark interest in e-learning at the graduate level, focusing in the beginning at the master’s and professional level.
